Safety protection apparatus of elastic-plastic steel structure

ABSTRACT

A safety protection apparatus of elastic-plastic steel structure is disclosed. The apparatus includes an outer protecting layer ( 4 ) and buffering assemblies arranged in a layered manner along the vertical direction and fixed within the outer protecting layer ( 4 ). Each buffering assembly includes stiffening beams ( 3 ) distributed in a layered manner along the horizontal direction and buffer members ( 2 ) uniformly bridging between adjacent stiffening beams ( 3 ), and each of said buffer members ( 2 ) comprises a pair of arc-shaped damping spokes ( 1 ). Shock absorbing rubber elements ( 5 ) are provided between vertically adjacent stiffening beams ( 3 ). The apparatus has high safety, good durability, and it is convenient to be installed and maintained.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The invention relates to the technical field of structure protection inthe operation of bridges and buildings, and more specifically relates toa safety protection apparatus, in particular a safety protectionapparatus of elastic-plastic steel structure.

Technical Background

Traffic safety is not satisfactory in China for a long time. On numerouscritical structures that may affect the public transportation safety, noprotection apparatuses for isolating or mitigating the impacts ofvehicles, such as cars or ships, are provided, which directly threatensthe safety of lives and properties. However, as the traffic volume inChina increases rapidly, the contradictions between cars or ships andthe surrounding buildings near roads or rivers become more and moresignificant. Accidents of cars or ships crashing into bridge piers orsurrounding buildings happen at times, resulting in collapse of bridgepiers or building structures, destroy of cars or ships and casualty ofhuman in serious cases. The reason is supposed to be that the directimpact between cars or ships and the surrounding structures is a rigidcollision, during which extremely serious injuries will occur since noenergy releasing or isolating devices are provided.

In order to solve such problems, some protection measures such asincreasing the structural sizes of bridge piers or adopting simpleprotection devices, e.g., steel tube fences or bumper piles, havealready been used, which to some extent ensure the structural safety ofbridge piers. However, such devices are far from satisfying in respectof aesthetics and practical applicability. And above all, since theimpact between cars or ships and the protection devices is still rigidcollision, it is not possible to alleviate the harm towards the vehiclesor humans from the impact without effective release of the energy.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a safety protectionapparatus of elastic-plastic steel structure with high-efficient energyreleasing ability in order to solve the problems existing in the priorarts, e.g., the energy of collision cannot be released effectively whenrigid impacts occur between cars or ships and important surroundingbuilding structures or bridge piers so that it is unable to alleviatethe harm from the impacts towards vehicles or humans.

In order to solve the problems existing in the prior arts, the presentinvention provides a safety protection apparatus of elastic-plasticsteel structure, including an outer protecting layer and bufferingassemblies arranged in a layered manner along the vertical direction andfixed within the outer protecting layer,

wherein each buffering assembly includes stiffening beams distributed ina layered manner along the horizontal direction and buffer membersuniformly bridging between adjacent stiffening beams,

each of said buffer members comprises a pair of arc-shaped dampingspokes fastened to each other, one end of one of the damping spokes iscrossed with one end of the other damping spoke;

said buffer members of adjacent buffering assemblies are arranged in astagger manner with each other along the vertical direction, and

shock absorbing rubber elements are provided between vertically adjacentstiffening beams, wherein vertically adjacent shock absorbing rubberelements are arranged in a stagger manner with each other.

The crossed ends of said pair of damping spokes are connected with outerhorizontal stiffening beam, while the other ends are connected withadjacent inner horizontal stiffening beam.

Said buffer members are provided on both the upper side and the lowerside of said stiffening beams, and the buffer members on the upper sideare arranged in a stagger manner along the vertical direction relativeto those on the lower side.

A dustproof cover board is provided on the top of said outer protectinglayer.

Suspended draglines are provided on the outer horizontal stiffening beamof the top buffering assembly.

Said damping spoke is made from elastic-plastic mild steel, and has alongitudinal cross section of C shape, semi-ellipse shape, nonlinear arcshape or the like.

Said stiffening beam is connected with the damping spoke via pins orrivets.

Said outer protecting layer is made by high-ductile steel plate withvulcanized rubber thereon, and the transverse cross section of the outerprotecting layer is of a closed shape or a linear shape.

Compared with the prior arts, the present invention possesses thefollowing advantages and technical effects.

1. Compared with conventional collision-prevention devices, the safetyprotection apparatus according to the present invention provides aflexible outer protecting layer, damping spokes and shock absorbingrubber elements as energy releasing materials for collision, which,through connection with annular stiffening beams one of which beingnested into the other, forms an elastic-plastic energy releasingapparatus with a high integrity. When it is hit by a car or a ship, thesafety protection apparatus can prolong the duration of collision,release the energy from the collision and reduce the impact force viathe elastic-plastic deformation of the damping spokes. Due to theintegral effectiveness of the outer protecting layer and the stiffeningbeams, more damping spokes will be subjected to the impact force, inparticular in the case of side collision. Therefore, the force can betransmitted farther, thus increasing the area for receiving the impactforce, dispersing the impact force and achieving a more uniform stresscondition.

2. The present invention provides a multilevel protection, whichincludes a three-level energy releasing protection structure with alight collision protection level, an intermediate collision protectionlevel and a strong collision protection level. In the case of the lightcollision, the outer protecting layer and the damping spokes of thesafety protection apparatus function together to generate a deformationwhich will consume energy, but the elastic-plastic steel issubstantially in a stage of elastic deformation or only generates arelatively low plastic deformation. In the case of the intermediatecollision, the outer protecting layer and the steel damping spokes ofthe safety protection apparatus function together to generate adeformation which consumes energy, wherein the damping spokes aredeformed plastically to a relatively large extent. However, thedisplacement caused by the collision is still less than the gap betweenthe outer stiffening beams and the shock absorbing rubber elements.Consequently, the outer stiffening beams cannot contact with the shockabsorbing rubber elements. In the case of the strong collision, thesafety protection apparatus generates a large displacement, enabling theouter stiffening beams to contact the shock absorbing rubber elements.In this case, the safety protection apparatus can release energy throughthe deformation of the outer protecting layer and the stiffening beams,the plastic deformation of the damping spokes, and the compressingdeformation of the shock absorbing rubber elements all together. In thisway, the duration of collision is effectively prolonged, and the impactforce is lowered significantly. Although the damping spokes generate alarge plastic deformation, the displacement limit of the structuraldesign would not be exceeded due to the shock absorbing rubber elementsprovided to achieve a final limit protection and energy releasingfunction. Therefore, no breakdown of the damping spokes will happen, andthus the integral function of buffering collision of the safetyprotection apparatus is ensured. In addition, the impact force can beapplied to the bridge piers more uniformly due to the existence of theshock absorbing rubber elements, and the bridge piers are betterprotected.

3. In the case of a side collision, the outer stiffening beam and theelastic-plastic steel can rotate to a certain extent during thecollision due to the pin joint between the elastic-plastic steel and theouter stiffening beam, so that the impact point of the cars or shipswill change, with the result that most of the kinetic energy of the carsor ships will be retained on the cars or ships, keeping the cars andships away from the bridge piers or the building structures withoutbeing stuck. In this way, the energy exchange during the collision ofcars or ships with the bridge piers or the building structures isconsiderably reduced, thus protecting the bridge piers or buildingstructure.

4. The upper and lower layers of the damping spokes are arranged in astagger way with each other and connected to the stiffening beams in asymmetrical structure. Therefore, the stress condition in collisionsfrom different directions is also symmetrical. Thus the protectioneffect in the case of collisions from various directions can be ensured.

5. In the safety protection apparatus according to the invention, thebottom is separated from the ground. In order to support the safetyprotection apparatus along the vertical direction, the safety protectionapparatus is provided with suspended draglines on the top thereof. Thedraglines can restrict the deformation of the outer stiffening beams ofthe safety protection apparatus along the vertical direction, thusmitigating the effect of collision. Compared with the design ofconnecting the bottom of the safety protection apparatus to the ground,wherein wastes will easily accumulate at the bottom of the protectionapparatus and thus influence on cleaning and the effect of slipping ofthe safety protection apparatus after being subjected to the impactforce, the design of adopting suspended draglines is especiallyadvantageous for the deformation and maintenance of the safetyprotection apparatus.

6. The inner stiffening beam of the safety protection apparatusaccording to the invention is mounted to surround the bridge piers orthe building structures with no damages being generated thereto.Therefore, the safety protection apparatus can be used in a variety ofapplications. The stiffening beams, the steel damping spokes and theshock absorbing rubber elements of the safety protection apparatus areall designed as modular units, and are connected via pins and rivets,thus achieving an easier mount, maintenance and replacement. Since onlythe damaged elements in some particular locations are required to bereplaced after a strong collision, the cost of repair and maintenance islow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 schematically shows the top view of structure of theelastic-plastic steel damping spoke according to the invention.

FIG. 2 shows the front view of structure of the one-layer safetyprotection apparatus of Example 1.

FIGS. 3, 4 and 5 show top views of structure of the one-layer safetyprotection apparatus of Example 1.

FIG. 6 shows the front view of structure of the multiple-layer safetyprotection apparatus of Example 2.

FIG. 7 shows the top view of structure of the multiple-layer safetyprotection apparatus of Example 2.

FIGS. 8, 9 and 10 show top views of structure of the interchangetriangular area with the safety protection apparatus of Example 3,wherein FIG. 8 shows the rear part of the interchange triangular area,FIG. 9 shows the front part of the interchange triangular area, and FIG.10 schematically shows the guiding lines of the interchange triangulararea.

FIG. 11 shows the front view of structure of the draglines and the coverboard of the safety protection apparatus of Example 4.

FIG. 12 shows the top view of structure of the dragline and the coverboard of the safety protection apparatus of Example 4.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

The invention will be discussed in detail with reference to the attacheddrawings and examples below.

FIGS. 1, 2, and 3 show a safety protection apparatus of elastic-plasticsteel structure, which includes an outer protecting layer 4 andbuffering assemblies arranged in a layered manner along the verticaldirection and fixed within the outer protecting layer 4. Each bufferingassembly includes stiffening beams 3 distributed in a layered manneralong the horizontal direction, and buffer members 2 uniformly arrangedand bridging between adjacent stiffening beams 3. The buffer members 2are provided on both the upper side and the lower side of the stiffeningbeam 3, and the buffer member 2 on the upper side of the stiffening beam3 is arranged in a stagger manner along the vertical direction relativethat on the lower side of the stiffening beams 3. Each of the buffermembers 2 is in the form of a pair of arc-shaped damping spokes 1fastened to each other, and one end of one damping spoke 1 is crossedwith one end of the other. The damping spoke 1 is made fromelastic-plastic mild steel, and has a longitudinal cross section with Cshape, semi-ellipse shape, nonlinear arc shape or the like. When thereis a collision, the duration of collision can be prolonged, the energyfrom the collision can be released and the impact force can be reducedvia the plastic deformation of the damping spokes. Shock absorbingrubber elements 5 are provided between two vertically adjacentstiffening beams 3 of adjacent buffering assemblies. The shock absorbingrubber elements 5 are arranged between adjacent stiffening beams 3 andconnected thereto, and snugly surround the bridge pier 8 or connectthereto via rivets. Vertically adjacent shock absorbing rubber elements5 are arranged in a stagger manner with each other. Said outerprotecting layer 4 is made by a high ductile steel plate with vulcanizedrubber thereon. The horizontal cross section of the outer protectinglayer 4 can be of a closed shape, such as an oval, a racetrack, acircle, a rectangle or other planar shapes, although it can also be alinear shape, such as a line, an arc. The shape of the horizontal crosssection of the outer protecting layer 4 is similar with the profile of abridge pier. A dustproof cover board 7, which can prevent dusts, rain orsnow from entering into the protection apparatus, is provided on the topbuffering assembly of the protecting outer layer 4. Suspended draglines6 are provided on the outer horizontal stiffening beam 3 of the topbuffering assembly. The protection apparatus can be suspended andconnected to the upper part of the bridge pier 8 by the suspendeddraglines 6, so that slide and rotation of the safety protectionapparatus are allowable.

During construction, according to the invention, the innermoststiffening beams 3 are used to embrace around the bridge pier 8 tightlyvia bolts. The elastic-plastic steel damping spokes 1 connect the innerstiffening beam 3 with the corresponding outer stiffening beam 3 into awhole body via connecting pins. The outermost stiffening beam 3 on thetop layer is suspended and connected to the bridge pier 8 via thesuspended draglines 6. The dustproof cover board 7 is finally arrangedon top of the protecting outer layer 4.

Example 1

As is shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, in the outer protecting layer 4 of Example1 eight buffering assemblies are arranged along the vertical directionsurrounding the bridge pier 8. The horizontal cross section of the outerprotecting layer 4 is circular. Each buffering assembly includes twostiffening beams 3 of annular shape, one horizontally nested within theother. Buffer members 2 are arranged uniformly on the upper side and thelower side of two stiffening beams 3 along the vertical direction.Adjacent buffer members 2 are arranged in a stagger manner, with thecrossed end and the other end of each buffer member 2 being connectedwith the outer and inner horizontal stiffening beam 3 respectively. Theinner horizontal stiffening beam 3 embraces the bridge pier 8 tightly.Shock absorbing rubber elements 5 are connected with two verticallyadjacent inner stiffening beams 3, and surround the bridge pier 8tightly via rivets. The outer horizontal stiffening beam 3 of eachbuffering assembly is fixed to the inner wall of the outer protectinglayer 4. Suspended draglines 6 are provided on the outer horizontalstiffening beam 3 of the top buffering assembly. The suspended draglines6 are connected to the upper part of the bridge pier 8, and thusmaintain the bottom buffering assembly separated from the ground. Thedustproof cover board 7 is arranged on the top of the outer protectinglayer 4.

As shown in FIG. 4, the horizontal cross section of the outer protectinglayer 4 is of a racetrack shape, which is different from that shown inFIG. 2. Accordingly, the corresponding stiffening beam 3 is also of acorresponding racetrack shape.

As shown in FIG. 5, the horizontal cross section of the outer protectinglayer 4 is of a rectangular shape, which is different from that shown inFIG. 2. Accordingly, the corresponding stiffening beam 3 is also of acorresponding rectangular shape, with four corner areas being roundedsmoothly. The buffering assemblies are uniformly arranged betweenadjacent stiffening beams 3 and connected thereto.

Example 2

As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, in the outer protecting layer 4 of Example 2eight buffering assemblies are arranged along the vertical direction.The horizontal cross section of the outer protecting layer 4 iscircular, and that of the stiffening beam 3 is annular accordingly. Eachbuffering assembly includes three stiffening beams 3, one horizontallynested within another in turn. The innermost horizontal stiffening beam3 embraces the bridge pier 8 tightly. Similar with the connectionbetween the buffer member 2 and the stiffening beam 3 in Example 1, inExample 2 the innermost stiffening beam 3 is connected with theintermediate stiffening beam 3 through buffer members 2, while theintermediate stiffening beam 3 is in turn connected with the outermoststiffening beam 3 through buffer members 2. The crossed ends of thebuffer members 2 are located towards the outside in each case. Shockabsorbing rubber elements 5 are arranged between vertically adjacentinner stiffening beams 3, in which adjacent shock absorbing rubberelements 5 are arranged in a stagger manner along the verticaldirection. The shock absorbing rubber elements 5 are connected with theinnermost stiffening beams 3 at the upper and lower sides, and surroundthe bridge pier 8 tightly via rivets. Suspended draglines 6 are providedon the outermost horizontal stiffening beam 3 of the top bufferingassembly. The suspended draglines 6 are connected to the upper part ofthe bridge pier 8. The dustproof cover board 7 is arranged on the top ofthe outer protecting layer 4, which can be, but not limited to, ofcircular shape.

Example 3

As shown in FIGS. 8, 9 and 10, the protection apparatus in Example 3 isdesigned mainly for interchange triangular zone. The interchangetriangular zone, a diverging site for vehicles and more possibly hit byvehicles, includes a front protecting column 9 and a rear protectingmound 10. As shown in FIG. 9, the front protecting column 9 iscylindrical, and the safety protection apparatus arranged thereonsurrounds the front end of the protecting column 9 (against thedirection in which cars drive) half around. The outer protecting layer 4of the safety protection apparatus has a semi-circular cross section.Each buffering assembly inside the outer protecting layer 4 includesthree stiffening beams 3, which are arranged from inside to outsidehorizontally and are shaped as semi-circular accordingly. Threestiffening beams 3 are connected with each other in sequence via buffermembers 2. Shock absorbing rubber elements 5 are arranged betweenvertically adjacent stiffening beams 3 and connected thereto, andsurround the protecting column 9. In addition, the bottom of the outerprotecting layer 4 can be directly buried or fixed to the road surface,or fixed to the substrate on the road surface at its lower end throughfasteners.

In this case, no suspended draglines 6 are necessary. As seen from FIG.8, the rear protecting mound 10 includes a wall body having arectangular cross section and a semi-cylinder connected thereto.Therefore, the outer protecting layer 4 of the safety protectionapparatus has a U-shaped cross section. As for the semi-cylinder, thestiffening beams 3 therein are also shaped as semi-circularcorrespondingly. Due to the smaller diameter of the semi-cylinder, thesemi-cylinder is provided with four stiffening beams 3, each adjacenttwo of them being connected with each other through buffer members 2. Asfor the wall body which is relatively wider than the semi-cylinder, twostiffening beams 3 are provided on both sides, which may be hit, of thewall body of the protecting mound 10, and are connected thereto throughbuffer members 2. Moreover, two inner stiffening beams 3 are connectedtogether to form one single body. Finally, shock absorbing rubberelements 5 are arranged between vertically adjacent inner stiffeningbeams 3 respectively. During high speed collision, the car will firsthit the safety protection apparatus on the front protecting column 9.Even though the front protection apparatus is damaged due to the highspeed collision by the car and thus the car unavoidably hits the safetyprotection apparatus on the rear protecting mound 10, the speed of thecar will be reduced rapidly due to a considerably long time period ofcollision. In addition, the rear protection apparatus can also consumethe energy from the collision through deformation, and thus the finalimpact force is lowered enough such that the interchange triangular zonecan resist. Therefore, the peak load during collision can be effectivelyeliminated, and the damage of vehicles and structures hit in collisioncan be effectively avoided or mitigated, while the collision towardsstructures is buffered.

Example 4

As shown in FIGS. 11 and 12, the outermost stiffening beam 3 of the topbuffering assembly of the safety protection apparatus in Example 4 issuspended from and connected to the bridge pier 8 through suspendeddraglines 6. The suspended draglines 6 can hang up the whole safetyprotection apparatus through the firm connection between the outermoststiffening beam 3 and the outer protecting layer 4. As regard to somestand columns which are similar to bridge piers, different landscapedecorations 11 can be provided on the top thereof to improve theappearance of the columns For example, a landscape decoration showingcarps jumping over the dragon gate can be adopted, and the suspendeddraglines 6 can be connected thereto. To facilitate mount andreplacement, the dustproof cover board 7 provided on the top side of theouter protecting layer 4 can be designed as an individual modular unit,which can be connected with the outer protecting layer 4 via aluminiumrivets. The aluminium rivets will be sheared off when a collisionoccurs, and the dustproof cover board 7 will be collapsed withoutaffecting the deformation of the protection apparatus. In addition, theedges of the dustproof cover board 7 are smoothly curled so that noacute angle is present at the collision area. Therefore, the impactrange is expanded, and the safety of cars and ships are effectivelyensured.

The present invention is not limited to the above discussed examples.Structures similar to bridge piers 8, protecting columns 9, protectingmounds 10 and the like that require protection are considered suitablefor use of the safety protection apparatus of the invention.

REFERENCE LIST

1. damping spoke

2. buffer member

3. stiffening beam

4. outer protecting layer

5. shock absorbing rubber element

6. suspended dragline

7. dustproof cover board

8. bridge pier

9. protecting column

10. protecting mound

11. Landscape decoration

1. A safety protection apparatus of elastic-plastic steel structure,including an outer protecting layer (4) and buffering assembliesarranged in a layered manner along the vertical direction and fixedwithin the outer protecting layer (4), wherein each buffering assemblyincludes stiffening beams (3) distributed in a layered manner along thehorizontal direction and buffer members (2) uniformly bridging betweenadjacent stiffening beams (3), each of said buffer members (2) comprisesa pair of arc-shaped damping spokes (1) fastened to each other, one endof one of the damping spokes is crossed with one end of the otherdamping spoke; said buffer members (2) of adjacent buffering assembliesare arranged in a stagger manner with each other along the verticaldirection, and shock absorbing rubber elements (5) are provided betweenvertically adjacent stiffening beams (3), wherein vertically adjacentshock absorbing rubber elements (5) are arranged in a stagger mannerwith each other.
 2. The safety protection apparatus of elastic-plasticsteel structure according to claim 1, wherein said buffer members (2)are provided on both the upper side and the lower side of saidstiffening beam (3), and the buffer members (2) on the upper side arearranged in a stagger manner along the vertical direction relative tothose on the lower side.
 3. The safety protection apparatus ofelastic-plastic steel structure according to claim 1, wherein thecrossed ends of said pair of damping spokes (1) are connected with outerhorizontal stiffening beam (2), while the other ends are connected withadjacent inner horizontal stiffening beam (3).
 4. The safety protectionapparatus of elastic-plastic steel structure according to claim 1,wherein a dustproof cover board (7) is provided on the top of said outerprotecting layer (4).
 5. The safety protection apparatus ofelastic-plastic steel structure according to claim 1, wherein suspendeddraglines (6) are provided on the outer horizontal stiffening beam (3)of top buffering assembly.
 6. The safety protection apparatus ofelastic-plastic steel structure according to claim 3, wherein saiddamping spoke (1) is made from elastic-plastic mild steel.
 7. The safetyprotection apparatus of elastic-plastic steel structure according toclaim 6, wherein said damping spoke (1) has a longitudinal cross sectionof C shape, semi-ellipse shape, or nonlinear arc shape.
 8. The safetyprotection apparatus of elastic-plastic steel structure according toclaim 7, wherein said stiffening beam (3) is connected with the dampingspoke (1) via pins or rivets.
 9. The safety protection apparatus ofelastic-plastic steel structure according to claim 3, wherein said outerprotecting layer (4) is made by high-ductile steel plate with vulcanizedrubber thereon.
 10. The safety protection apparatus of elastic-plasticsteel structure according to claim 8, wherein the transverse crosssection of the outer protecting layer (4) is of a closed shape or alinear shape.
 11. The safety protection apparatus of elastic-plasticsteel structure according to claim 2, wherein the crossed ends of saidpair of damping spokes (1) are connected with outer horizontalstiffening beam (2), while the other ends are connected with adjacentinner horizontal stiffening beam (3).